Videos

Big Thinking

Getting it right from the start
Margaret McCain
Sunday, June 2, 2013

The Honourable Margaret Norrie McCain brings her wide-ranging experience as a champion for early childhood development to this Big Thinking lecture. Mrs. McCain focuses on the critical need for investment and cooperation across sectors to deliver quality early learning to enhanced children’s success in school and in life.

Drawing on the Early Years Study 3: Making Decisions, Taking Action, Mrs McCain argues that good education, begun early, can improve OUTCOMES FOR every child. It is fair. It works. It is affordable. But while more Canadian preschoolers are involved in early education than ever before, public policy remains confused. The split between oversight and delivery is stressful for children and parents alike, and negates the wonderful payback that comes from delivering early education in a way that simultaneously supports children’s learning and their parents’ work. Mrs. McCain argues that preschool education for all 2- to 5-year-olds is within our grasp, particularly if it is built on the asset we already have in public education.

Mrs. McCain is the Chair of the Margaret & Wallace McCain Family Foundation. She serves on the Board of the Canadian Women’s Foundation and the Canadian Institute for Child Study and is also a founding member of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Foundation in New Brunswick. In addition to participating in numerous early child development policy and program initiatives in Canada, Mrs. McCain was the first female to hold the position of Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of New Brunswick (1994 to 1997).